Alternate Scene by the Lake 3
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: The scene after the 1976 fifth year OWL exam, where in canon Lily and Severus break apart, instead plays out with Lily turning on the Marauders over the way she and they have been treating Severus. Alternate Universe. Probably a one-shot. Minor corrections made and Author Notes revised, March, 2013.


(minor corrections, March 2013)

Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following is in an alternate universe where the scene by the lake in canon after the fifth defence OWL in 1976 plays out differently past a certain point.

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><p>"…mudbloods like her."<p>

The words seemed to ring in her ears, and Lily froze, trying to desperately make sense of the situation. She could have chosen differently, as there were multiple targets around to blame.

It occurred to her, however, at this point, that she had spent five years ignoring Sev, or at least not standing up for him against her housemates, whilst all the time pouring lectures on him about the dark arts and _his_ friends and housemates – none of whom, she had to admit – ever seemed to bother her in quite the same way that the Marauders went after Sev. She hadn't really done anything for him. Not even this past year when she'd had a prefect's badge, for Merlin's sake.

And vaguely she realised that five years of torment might have put Sev in a place where now he was simply trying to push _everyone_ away at this moment, friend or not.

"This. Is. Your. Fault. Potter!"

Lily turned on him, wand outstretched, and punctuating each word with a blasting hex, aimed at his feet, forcing him to dance back.

"Five years of your tormenting my best friend, and now he calls _me_ a mudblood!" she screamed, taking Potter down with a tripping jinx. "And I _deserve_ to be insulted, not standing up for him against a gang of _bullies_ like you and your mates."

And then she was duelling the Marauders, all four of them, in a whirl of fury, sheer rage and frustration pushing her spells way past what they should _usually_ be capable of doing.

Add to that the fact that Lily was good at charms, and their surprise that sweet, easy-going, Lily Evans had turned on them, and the Marauders never stood a chance. She flattened them.

She was vaguely aware, through the red haze of her anger, of other people around looking on at first in amusement, and then shouting and scattering, after one of them tried to interfere and she took him with a disarm, but she was _far_ too busy to give them much heed.

She stood over a battered and bloodied Potter, wand raised, and prepared to deliver the final blow with a spell she knew Sev had been experimenting with recently…

"_Sectum_…" she began to snarl, before being distracted by a tug on her arm, and Severus standing there, looking _very_ pale.

"Lily. There are teachers coming."

She looked up. Sure enough, there were at least two Ravenclaw prefects and several teachers running in their direction. She looked around at the devastation, which she hadn't really noticed in the midst of her fury whilst she was busy causing it, and figured that made sense.

"Oh." she sagged. "Sev. I'm sorry for not standing up for you to them before. Will you forgive me?"

He blinked. His own earlier moment of madness seemed to have passed.

"Yes." he said, a rare note of raw emotion which sounded suspiciously like contrition touching his voice. For just a few moments, he was unguarded and vulnerable, his heart exposed. "Of course, Lily. And I'm sorry for that 'mudbloods like her'…" His tone said so much more than the mere words about how horrified and revolted he felt now by what he'd said.

"As I said, I reckon I deserved at least some sort of insult." She moved to reassure him. "Some brave Gryffindor I turned out to be, waiting this long before deciding to stand up for you? But I forgive you, too."

And they stood there, side by side, as the teachers came and inspected the carnage, and did what they could for the Marauders.

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><p>Severus and Lily were in the headmaster's office now, and the pair of them and the headmaster emerged from the headmaster's pensieve, having just inspected both Severus <em>and<em> Lily's perspectives of what had happened an hour earlier by the lake. The headmaster's eyes had none of their usual twinkle. Indeed he looked worried – almost scared.

"Miss Evans: Your prefect badge is forfeit, and I shall ask Mary MacDonald to fill in as the fifth year girl prefect for Gryffindor for the remainder of the term. There will be detentions involved for both of you, not because Mr. Snape himself was actually in any way to blame for events on this occasion, beyond in using an insulting word, but because you could do with some company, and it will play better for Mr. Snape with his Slytherin colleagues, I suspect, if he appears to have had a share in the blame. There will be no house-point deductions. This one was partially my own fault, for letting things go too far." The headmaster seated himself behind his desk and drummed his fingers for a moment. His phoenix was absent.

"You have just snapped the wands of four fellow students and put them in the infirmary, with very severe injuries, Miss Evans." the headmaster continued. "_Two_ of those students are members of powerful families, even though Mr. Black is largely out of favour at present with his own relatives. At this point it will be difficult to avoid expelling you, without political intervention for you from some other powerful source."

"You managed to cover up the incident with Black and Lupin, sir." Severus' voice was bitter.

Lily was baffled by this reference, and the headmaster looked at her, apparently noticing this.

"You mean he hadn't told you?" the headmaster looked at her. "About the incident with Black and Lupin in the fourth year?"

Lily shook her head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, sir."

"I have kept _my_ word, _sir_." Severus said. His voice sounded strained, as if he were struggling to remain polite.

The headmaster suddenly looked _very_ old.

"You did this, and you didn't know the worst of it?" the headmaster stared at Lily. "Alright, I'm sending you both home. Arrangements will be made for you to sit your remaining OWLS between now and the end of August. For official purposes, the detentions you would have otherwise have had are cancelled because I have instead suspended you both. Please note, that this is not any criticism of your own behaviour, but an unfortunate need to play politics on my own part." He made a sour face, seeming to be starting to recover his equilibrium. "Besides the arrangements for exams, I will personally come out to apologise to you for some of the things which have been going on at this school as soon as I have the time, and I will write _private_ letters that you can take home to your parents in which I will come as close to exonerating you from any blame as is politically possible. Please, spend time studying with one another over the summer, and rest assured that even if it is impossible for you to return to Hogwarts, I will make other arrangements. Oh, and Mr. Snape: Once you and Miss Evans are safely back home, I give you permission to inform Miss Evans of the details of that incident with Black and Lupin. Your Slytherin mind is, I already sense, busy with trying to work out angles on my actions here. I am trying to repair mistakes I have made which it is now painfully obvious were rather more dangerous than I had assumed, and I would like you and Miss Evans to at least be able to respect me – if not to trust me – and I would also prefer that it is no fault of my own that there should be any secrets between you. However, I would appreciate it, Miss Evans, if – once Mr. Snape informs you what happened last year – you consider _very_ carefully before making any information he gives you about that incident more widely known. I must trust, here, to Mr. Snape's Slytherin abilities to grasp all the angles of the situation, and ask you to do the same. That will be all. Go and pack your things, and I shall have you apparated home directly after tonight's evening meal."

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><p>Author Notes:<p>

Unlike canon Lily, this one actually stops and thinks for a moment, after the 'mudbloods' insult, actually trying to work out _why_ Severus might have said it, and instead of putting any blame on him as she usually seems to me to do in canon (lecturing him about the dark arts, his choice of friends, etc) comes down on herself rather harshly for her own multiple failings over the years. She's taking out on the Marauders as much her anger and frustration about some of the things which she's done (or not done) as that for the things which they've been doing.

I'm unclear over what period Lily Evans was a prefect in canon at Hogwarts, but it seems reasonable to me to assume she would have been appointed girl prefect for Gryffindor at the start of her fifth year, and this story certainly assumes that.

As regards Lily's taking all the Marauders on at once and coming out on top, she gets the drop on them and has James Potter down and at least semi-crippled before the fight even really gets going. For the first few seconds past that there's a reaction of shock handicapping the other three, especially severe given how much in control of the situation they seemed to be and puffed up in their egos by their 'victory' over Severus of only moments before. The sudden turn around of circumstances has them literally stunned, with their ability to even defend themselves severely impaired – especially with the circumstance of such a furious attack coming from such a completely unexpected quarter. And then, as reality starts to sink in, and they see the damage they've already accrued, failure of morale and panic starts to set in...

It is, however, I concede something an 'against the odds' result, best explained by its being rooted in an attack against a completely off-guard opponents, and I doubt it would be duplicated in a direct one-on-four confrontation where both sides were ready and prepared to engage.

Whilst details on Lily's capabilities in canon are scant, it is stated that a wand chooses the wizard (or witch) and since canon Lily's wand is known to be 'good for charms', it seems likely to me that it would pick her only if she had a good deal of potential with that particular line of spells.

Albus Dumbledore is trying to buy himself time to think things through. His most immediate concern not regarding the Marauders and their families is the possibility (however unlikely) of a potentially alienated Miss Evans turning to Lord Voldemort.

This story is probably a one-shot.


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